


time in a bottle

by Over_the_Love204



Series: time traveling boy [1]
Category: Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger, Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Angst, Car Accidents, Children, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Romance, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-11
Updated: 2012-09-11
Packaged: 2017-11-14 00:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Over_the_Love204/pseuds/Over_the_Love204
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts when he's six; one moment he's sitting in his mother's lap and the next he's staring up at a man claiming to be his brother.</p>
<p>Or, five times Damon Salvatore travels through time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	time in a bottle

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own The Time Traveler's Wife or The Vampire Diaries. No knowledge of the Time Traveler's Wife is necessary.

'

[Damon is 6; Stefan is 20]

It starts when he's six years old. He's sitting in his mama's lap as she reads him his favorite book of the week (it's always changing) and in his Thomas the Tran pajamas, snuggling up to her. He blinks and when he opens his eyes again, he's sitting in their living room across from a man who looks a little his Mama and Daddy.

The man blinks at Damon and gives him a soft smile.

"Hi Damon," He says and he reaches for a pile of clothes that are sitting next to him, "Here."

Damon looks down at himself and notices as that he's not wearing any clothes at all. He looks up at the man and snatches the garments from him, but instead of putting them on, demands, "Who are you? And why are you in my house?"

The man grins, "I'm Stefan and your brother, and you're in the future. You told me to meet you here a while ago – so you wouldn't be afraid when you first Traveled."

"If this is the future, where am I?" Damon asks suspiciously, because his Mama has always told him not to talk to strangers, and even if this man says he's his brother, he'd best be careful anyway.

"You're older self is Traveling," Stefan says easily.

It occurs to Damon that he doesn't have a brother.

"I don't have a brother," Damon tells Stefan.

Stefan's eyes crinkle in the corners as his smile widens. "You will," He promises, "I'll be born in 1992."

Damon is still suspicious (he's heard his Daddy call him cynical – he's not sure what that means) but he stands to put the clothes on.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Turn around," Damon commands the man that may or may not be his brother, "I'm not getting dressed in front of you."

"Of course not," Stefan said and stands, turns around, covers his eyes, "Okay."

Damon slips on his underwear and then his pants and shirt. He leaves the socks and shoes alone because he doesn't want to wear Transformers sneakers.

"I'm ready," Damon announces, "You can open your eyes now."

Stefan turns back around and uncovers his eyes, asking, "Do you want something to eat? I find that Older Damon is always hungry after he Travels."

Damon notices that his belly is rumbling so he nods eagerly. Stefan leads him into the kitchen and Damon notices how the house looks different than it usually does. There are new pictures on the walls, a lot of which include the man Stefan and another man that looks a like Damon – only older.

He also sees lots of girls and makes a face. Stefan sees the picture he's looking at that moment – a girl with long pin straight brown hair – and he laughs at Damon's expression. Indignant, Damon fists up his hands and puts them on his hips.

"What's so funny?"

"You don't like that pretty lady?" Stefan asks as his green eyes twinkle with mirth.

"Girls are icky," Damon whispers loudly and Stefan laughs, though the little boy can't see why. Girls have cooties, after all.

"That's not what you think when you're older," Stefan says with a grin.

"Then I'm not very smart in the future," Damon frowns, upset that he seems to get dumber with age. He'll have to fix that. "What are we eating?"

"A PB&J sandwich," Stefan says as he sits Damon into a chair and goes to the fridge, "Mom used to say that you'd eat then all the time when you were little." He ruffles through it and sets out peanut butter, jelly, and a package of bread.

Damon gets ready for some food but feels a tingly sensation – everywhere.

"Stefan-" He starts to say, worried, but he blinks.

When Damon opens his eyes again, he's sitting on the floor, next to Mama's feet. She swoops down and hugs him and murmurs into his ears that she was terrified, and where had he been?

"I met my little brother," Damon confides, "Only he was bigger than me. His name is Stefan, Mama."

[Damon is 24, Stefan is 5]

Damon is kissing his girlfriend and then he is not.

He's sitting in a park stark naked, hidden by a bush. He peeks over the shrubbery and sees Stefan running around, giggling with his friends Lexi and Caroline. The little boy catches sight of Damon and the man smiles and waves at him.

Stefan bursts into a grin and sprints over to Damon's side. "Hi! Mama and I brought clothes just in case because an even older you came by last week and we didn't anything for you to wear, so you had to hide until Mama could bring you some of Daddy's boring stuff and you said you hated it."

"Well, it's a good thing you have some stuff for me now," Damon says when Stefan stops for a breath of air, "Can I have my clothes now?"

Stefan is wriggling with excitement as he grabs Damon's hand and leads him to a tree three feet away. He points inside a little nook and Damon grabs the blue jeans, boots, and white tee out of it.

"Thank you, Stefan," Damon says seriously.

Stefan claps his hands over his eyes so Damon can change and says, "Let's go play with my friends!"

"Not today, Stef," Damon says, "How about we go see Mom?"

Stefan makes a disappointed noise and but Damon doesn't care too much. He'd like to go see their mother before the accident.

"We can go to the ice cream shop afterwards," Damon promises even though he's not sure how long he'll be in 1997. He taps Stefan on the shoulder and little boy turns around.

"Okay," Stefan says happily, "My favorite's Rocky Road."

"I know," Damon says and picks Stef up and puts him on his shoulders, "And next week it'll be chocolate."

"No!" Stefan gasps and Damon smiles.

"It's true," He says gravely as he starts to walk to their house. His 12 year old self was Traveling at that moment, having been watching little Stefan seconds before 24 year old Damon appeared.

The Boarding House isn't that far from the little park and so it only takes Damon fifteen minutes to walk there. The gardens are still being tended to by their mother, Damon can tell. Their father's classic BMW is gone from the drive, but their mother's motorcycle is parked in the open garage.

"Mom!" Damon calls, "I'm here!" The windows are open for spring cleaning, and Damon knows Mom will hear him; she always keeps an ear out.

Victoire Salvatore bustles out the front door with a beaming smile on her face, "My boys!"

Damon sweeps a giggling Stefan off of his shoulders and the little boy runs past their mom into the house where they can all hear the beagle puppy they'd just adopted barking. Victoire wraps her arms around Damon's tall form and lays her face against his shoulder.

"Where are you from?" She asks, "You're so big."

Damon smiles, "2009."

"Twenty-four," Victoire says appreciatively, "Have you found a girl, yet? I hope she's good to you."

Visions of his ex, Katherine, flash through his mind, but Damon shoves them out, "Oh, yes. She's lovely; you'd love her."

Victoire nods, "I'm glad; you need someone to keep you in line."

Damon and Victoire walk inside the Boarding House side by side to see Stefan rolling on the floor with the beagle puppy.

"Stefan Salvatore, you get up off of that dirty floor right now!" Victoire admonishes and Damon relishes the sound of his mother's voice.

[Damon is 30, Stefan is 7]

Damon opens his eyes and sees the ceiling of the Boarding House above him. He can hear the panting of the beagle their father had gotten Stefan and Damon when they were younger and the roaring of the fireplace.

Damon closes his eyes as he hears the door slam and knows that he'll watch it happen again. He heaves himself up into a sitting position in time to see Stefan run down the stairs.

"Damon!" Stefan beams, "Mom's taking us to the movies. Get dressed!" The beagle barks as if in encouragement and Damon gets up and puts a pillow in front of him.

"Where's little me?" Damon asks idly. He's never really seen himself back in time before, though he knows that he's missed himself by mere seconds before.

"He just Traveled," Stefan explains and whistles for the dog. "Here," he tosses some jeans and shirt to Damon, which smack him in the face.

"Thanks, Stefan," Damon says dryly.

"You're welcome!" Stefan is running up the stairs again, calling for their mother to hurry up.

Damon sets the pillow down and throws on his clothes slowly, reluctant to go with Stefan and their mom again. He observes the living room and sees old photos up again, and all of the ones with Lexi and Caroline and Elena and Jeremy gone.

"Damon, dear?" Victoire's voice calls him, and he looks up at her. The French woman has always been beautiful, but Damon thinks she looks better than she ever has on this night. "Stefan says you're coming with us. Damon was going to come, you know, but he disappeared. Do you know where he went?"

"He's with my girlfriend right now," Damon says, remembering now, "He'll be back the second I leave."

"That's reassuring," Victoire says and then Stefan appears at her side.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Stefan says impatiently, tugging at his mother's jacket hem.

"Okay, we're going," Victoire says indulgently and Damon follows obediently out to the car. Stefan wants to sit shot gun, but Damon's vehement that he sits in the back seat.

Victoire starts the car and they set out on the dark snowy road to Mystic Falls' only movie theater. Damon looks out the window worriedly, and shoots side long glances at his mom and brother. His fingers tap his thighs anxiously.

"Damon, sweetie, are you-" Victoire starts but never finishes. A semi attempts a U-Turn in front of them and the backend of the truck smacks his mother's side of the car. Bright lights burst in front of Damon's vision and he hears Stefan screaming in the back seat.

It goes dark.

[Damon is 30, Stefan is 34, Elena is 34]

Damon opens his eyes and is in bed with a screaming Elena.

"Damon, Damon, wake up, please," She's sobbing and Damon remembers that he's just been in the car accident with his mom and Stefan.

"I'm awake," He mutters through a sore throat and takes stock of his body; he's got a broken arm, he can feel and blood is running down his scalp.

"I called an ambulance," Stefan's voice says from the doorway to Damon and Elena's bedroom. Damon looks up and sees a much older Stefan. His forehead is wrinkled because of his currently furrowed eyebrows and his mouth is turned down in the corners.

"I'll be fine," Damon slurs and tries to wave off their concerns, "I've seen myself in the future, you guys see me in the future . . ." He trails off and starts to hack blood up.

He can hear the ambulance in the background and can feel Stefan and Elena's hands holding him up from the bed.

His world goes dark again.

[Damon 17, Stefan is 43, Caroline is 44]

One moment Damon is watching Stefan and their little beagle dog play fetch in their backyard and the next he's standing on a street corner in the buff.

He recognizes the street and heads towards the Boarding House, unashamed of his nakedness. He smirks and waves at women passing by, who gasp or point giggling at him. He recognizes his History teacher, Alaric Saltzman and waves at him.

The man is much older now, giving Damon a clue of the time period he's in now, and at that moment he's raising his eyebrows at Damon, shaking his head in exasperation. Damon smirks and picks up his pace.

He arrives at Boarding House and slips through the front door and up to his room. Damon goes straight to his closet and picks his clothes out, the ones the future him must have set aside for this occasion. He puts on his white tee and leather jacket, dark jeans and black boots.

Damon can smell Elena's lingering perfume and breaths it in, bringing a smile to his face.

He can hear feet trampling up the staircase and the door bursts open. Damon spun around and saw two giggling girls – one maybe ten and the other around seven. Both have oak leaf green eyes and curly blond hair.

"Hi Uncle Damon," They course and Damon waves his fingers at them. They burst into giggles again.

"Where are your mom and dad?" Damon asks them and the girls lead him back down the stairs into the kitchen where Stefan is at the stove making eggs and pancakes, while Caroline's sitting at the table, rubbing her distended stomach. They both look up at Damon's arrival and smile at him.

"Hey Damon," Caroline greets tiredly.

"Damon," Stefan greets, "God, you're young."

Damon smirks and sits at the table, putting his feet up. Both of the adults glower, but Damon just grins wider. "Where's Older Damon?"

"On his and Elena's third honeymoon," Stefan says distractedly.

"Third?" Damon's eyebrows rise.

"Uh huh," Caroline says.

They all hear a thundering of feet and then three dark haired children mob Damon. "Dad!"

Damon's seen his future kids once or twice, but he still gets surprised to see them. "Hey," He says and looks at them. The oldest is a smirking boy with Elena's brown eyes and Damon's slightly curly hair that's about thirteen. The middle one is a girl with blue eyes and pin straight hair about eleven, and the youngest is another little boy about six. He looks exactly like him, Damon notices.

He spends breakfast with his family and is content.

[Damon is 45, Stefan is 37, Elena is 37]

Damon knows that he dies young; he's known that for a long, long time. There were several clues through the years and his Travels; Older Stefan and Older Elena seem especially glad to see him than the younger ones do, though he's always been welcomed with open arms.

Stefan and Elena have never seen a Traveling Damon older than 45.

Damon takes a while to except this, but he does, eventually, like he except that his mom dies when he's 14.

He's wondered how it happens, but tries not to linger on it.

When it does, it's neither expected nor unexpected, really. He Travels into an open street one snowy evening and blinks against the bright lights of an incoming car. It hits him at 80 mph and his body Travels back to his own time, in his own house.

It's New Years Eve, and so appears in the middle of festivities. There's screaming and ambulances mentioned, but Damon knows that it's time.

Stefan's at his head, talking to him, but Damon can't understand what he's saying. Elena's on his other side, tears escaping her eyes. Damon forces his hands to grasp his brother and his wife's hands before he goes.

He smiles.


End file.
